Audrey Decides
by CookieDoughMe
Summary: Takes place at some point around series two or three. Audrey can't choose between Nathan and Duke, so she makes the decision not to. This version is finished, but I may also add a longer version with a more detailed ending.


Nathan and Duke are at Audrey's; discussing the day's Trouble and making sure everyone's OK. The three of them are stood in the middle of the apartment. Business talk over, Nathan is starting to feel that he interrupted something. He was hoping to spend the evening with Audrey, but he doesn't know where he stands with her and pride kicks in – he's not going to put himself out on a limb in front of Duke and it doesn't look like Duke's going anywhere.

"Well," says Nathan, "maybe I should go." He hears the awkwardness he failed to keep out of his voice and sees the smallest grin flick across Duke's face.

But not Audrey's, "You don't have to go Nathan," she says, "Stay; we'll have a drink, celebrate a Trouble under control."

She saw both men hesitate and she could feel the tension in the room. They both felt something for her, she knew and it could easily become a kind of competition between them, which would not help their fractious relationship if she didn't say something. Without really thinking, she reached out and took each of them by the hand.

"Guys, I'm sorry" she said. "I think you both want to be the one who stays here tonight, but …" she shakes her head, "You've both saved my life, more than once, you both make me laugh, you're both gorgeous – how can I choose between you?"

She looked between them. Nathan was taken aback; by her spelling it out like that, more than the actual sentiment, she thought. Duke was weighing up his options.

"Maybe you don't have to," he said. He shifted slightly to face the both of them and all of a sudden Audrey got what he meant. He saw the light in her eyes and it made him grin. They both looked at Nathan who had gone very still. Audrey reached up to kiss him. While he would have preferred they were alone, he was always going to kiss her back.

Duke watched them for just a moment before leaning down to softly kiss Audrey's neck. He felt her breath catch as she squeezed his hand and while this wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, he knew he wasn't going to say no. After a minute he brought his free hand up towards her waist and Nathan reacted by trying to cut him off. Duke frowned; this wasn't going to work so well if Nathan was going to get all petty about it.

Audrey pulled back a little to say "Boys, don't fight. We were getting along so well." She moved back a little more to look at them both, trying to find the antidote to the competitiveness between them. "Do I get to watch you two? There is a little spark between you I think."

"Audrey, the only spark here is you," said Nathan.

She considered this. "Is that enough?" she replied, moving her hands to the small of their backs.

He wouldn't feel Duke, but he could feel the heat coming off Audrey already; she wanted both of them, and he knew he didn't want to leave. Hell, he thought, Duke thinks I'm ridiculous anyway, nothing I do here can make that much worse. Audrey was a pretty big spark after all. He looked from her to Duke and gave the tiniest shrug. Duke saw and said, "Whatever the lady wants."

They all had their arms around each other's back and then Nathan and Duke were kissing, Audrey's hands under their t-shirts, her fingers playing over their stomachs, their backs, their chests. Nathan could hear her breathing and she was right; her desire for them both was a big spark.

Keeping her hands on their skin, Audrey slipped between them, pulling them both close to her. Duke kissed the back of her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist. Nathan bent to nibble her ear and dropped his arms across Duke's to her back. She was wrapped up in the both of them and she didn't want that to ever change.

Nathan worked his way from her ear down to her throat and across her collar bone, Duke's hands moving from her waist around to her stomach; caressing her skin as his fingers moved around and down her body.

She kissed Nathan again then as he unbuttoned her shirt, her hands inside his t-shirt as she lifted it above his head. Her shirt undone, Nathan kissed between her breasts as Duke slowly pulled her shirt back from her shoulders, his fingers trailing down her back as the shirt fell to the floor. She arched her back and let her head drop back against him, her skin tingling from her toes to the tops of her ears.

She turned her head to the side to kiss Duke again and he moved around her, reaching his hand out to Nathan's waist, pulling the three of them together as the two men kissed again, Duke's hand in Nathan's hair as Audrey watched.

One hand on his stomach and one on his back, she pulled Duke's t-shirt up and off him. There was a brief moment then where they found themselves paused, stood the three of them almost touching, but not. Almost moving, but not. A moment threatening to break; Audrey decided not to let it. "So," she began, "there's a bed over there."

Nathan planted a brief kiss on her shoulder as he moved away from her towards the bed, running his fingers down her arm to grab her hand and pull her gently after him. As they started to move, he looked back at Duke, "Coming?"

"Oh god yes."

They collapsed on to the bed together the three of them, kicking off shoes and pulling at each other's belts until they were nothing but a tangle of limbs and kisses and skin on skin, and the world and its Troubles fell away.


End file.
